Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. In a small bowl or 2 cup measuing cup, beat egg with a fork. Stir in milk and oil. Pour all at once into the well in the flour mixture. Add the mashed banana, chocolate chips and almonds.

Mix quickly and lightly with a fork until moistened, but do not beat. The batter will be lumpy. Pour the batter into paper lined muffin pan cups.

Slice French bread and dry in a 200° oven for 20 minutes. Combine remaining pudding ingredients in a large container and blend well with a hand mixer. Thinly slice dried French bread and place in an 8” x 10” x 2” pan. Pour pudding into pan and mush all bread by hand so that the liquid is absorbed and the bread becomes very soggy. Be sure to flatten all of the lumps. Cover pan with foil and bake at 300° for 2 ½ hours, or until a skewer inserted in the center of the pudding comes out dry. Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Melt butter in a saucepot. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Add the rum and ignite. Allow the flames to subside. Then, stir in the banana liqueur. Add fresh bananas and simmer over medium heat for about 2 minutes or until the sauce coats the spoon.

I needed some culinary therapy today as a result of some very rough events. So today, I made banana chocolate chip bundt cakes. The recipe I used was inspired by my friend, Amber. I used her banana bread recipe and added 3/4 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract… which I baked in a mini bundt pan for 25-30 mins. The outcome was a wonderfully moist and flavorful cake – just the sweetness I needed for the day.